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December 9, 2013

Monday Musings: Crate Expectations

This post is the first in an irregular series in which I will share some of the canine conundrums I am struggling with or wondering about, and invite your responses and opinions. Down the road, maybe readers can even submit their own questions to include in future installments!

Today's pondering revolves around Ruby's kennel. Of course kennels themselves invite The Great Crate Debate and in my own experience I have encountered those who use them religiously and those who believe them to be horrible dog-jails, and everything in between. I admit to being in the latter camp for some time. We never had them growing up, and my first dogs of my own, Freya and Lasya, never spent any time in crates - I never saw the need. Enter my first foster dog, Bjorn. Bjorn was a very sweet, very destructive young male elkhound who I dubbed Bjorngenstern the Destroyer. During his months with me he mauled the telephone and remote, shredded throw pillows and comforters and tore curtains down with their rods. To preserve my sanity and furnishings, I borrowed an extremely large crate from a friend, where Bjorn stayed when I wasn't home to supervise him. I also utilized a crate for my next foster dog, a little black stray Chihuahua named Vlad, mainly to make sure that he was kept safe from my much bigger dogs.

When I adopted Ruby at nine months of age, I had no idea what to expect in regard to her house-training and manners. She came from out-of-state with no background information, and lived in a foster home for one week before I brought her home. Although it became readily apparent that she was not house-trained at all, she picked it up remarkably quickly and began asking to go outside. She was accident-free within one week. I still didn't know what she may or may not get into when left to her own devices, and wanted to err on the side of caution and set her up for success by not leaving her in larger areas of the house for long periods of time unsupervised until I could work up to it gradually. She had slept in a crate at her foster home, and I began experimenting with leaving her in it for a few hours at a time. She immediately curled up and did not make a peep once inside, but she did not enjoy going in the crate and still does not go in of her own accord when I am home like some dogs will. Being a bright girl she wised up to the treat-tossing method after a couple days. Because I was still getting to know her, and needed a safe place for her to be while I was at work, I skipped some steps in the process and a few times had to actually catch her and coax her in to the crate. Loving chase as she does, she thought it was a fun game to lead me merrily around the house when she knew it was time for me to leave. At some point, though, something clicked, and after leaving her leash on a few times after her morning walk and leading her over while saying "go to your den," then rewarding her with a hunk of bison jerky, I decided one morning to unhook her leash and say "go to your den." She happily trotted from the kitchen to the living room where her kennel is nestled between the sofa and bookcase and sat down awaiting her jerky, and continued to do so from that day forward.

Even though she adjusted well to the crate, I knew I did not want her to have to stay in it for an entire work day, even with her mid-day break with me or the dog-walker, but I needed a way to keep her away from the windows where she could practice barking at dogs and people, and also a way to insure that my elderly kitty could retain at least part of the house as her puppy-free sanctuary. I know that Jack Russel Terriers are built on springs, so I bought an extra-tall dog gate which I installed between my living room and kitchen. I started leaving her for incrementally longer periods in the kitchen area, where she could see out to the privacy-fenced patio and relax in her over-sized dog bed which used to belong to my elkhound, Freya. Ruby knows when she sees me with my purse that I'll be gone for a while, but I assure her that I'll always come back. I tell her "Bye sweetheart, I'll see you later," and leave her with stuffed Kongs and her own CD's playing. Her weekday routine now is mornings in her crate, a walk or visit (due to her reactivity I no longer have others walk her) around lunchtime and afternoons in the kitchen. She seems very comfortable in "her room" - I often find her curled up in her bed by the back door even when I'm home, and has started returning there in the mornings after she eats breakfast while I am getting ready for work, which brings me to the musing part of this Monday. My question is this: do I need to continue using the crate?

The simple answer is "no." Ruby has proven herself reliably house-trained and despite her high energy and penchant for stealing socks and turning them to Swiss cheese, she is not at all destructive when left on her own. I've even tested her by leaving old shoes within her reach. Nothing has ever been out of place - she prefers an audience for her antics and interpretive art. She seems content in the kitchen and chooses to spend her time there even when I am around, something I can't say for the crate. My main hesitation in eliminating the crate from her mornings is just that: I don't want to lose it as part of her routine. I now know how valuable the crate can be as a tool for travel, injury, or introducing new pets. I want her to maintain a comfort level with spending time in her kennel, but I admit to feeling guilty about confining her there when she doesn't really need to be. I'm considering only having her "go to her den" twice a week or so, on the days that the dog visiting service comes.

What do the rest of you think? What is your routine with your dog when you are away from the house? Do you think that mixing up Ruby's routine will keep the crate in our toolbox while allowing her the freedom in the house that she's earned, or that we could skip it entirely and pack it away unless it is needed in the future?

11 comments:

So we adopted Stella at 6 months old. She was not housetrained and not at all trusted in the house alone (so I thought). I actually crate trained her for a solid 3 months and she absolutely loved her crate. it was her little safe place. We first started with it in the dining area and she would go in there to put herself to bed each night. She slept in there all night. We take her to a doggy day care, so when she was younger she was going there about 3 days a week. the other two I kept in the crate from about 8am to noon, then 1 to around 5pm. Then as she got older I was able to keep her in there for the entire work day. I felt horribly guilty for doing that! But in reality she really didn't mind it. Skip ahead to around 9 months old. Stella started barking outside and she was fully housetrained so I thought .... Maybe I can keep her inside loose with closed doors so she isn't barking outside. The first time it was fine, she actually didn't have any accidents in the house and . But the second time.......... oooh the second time.... I came home to projectile poo all over my kitchen floor!!! I felt terribly bad because I really shouldn't have locked her in the house... so then my paranoid self needed to see what was going on with her while I was gone all day... I HIGHLY recommend getting a Drop Cam because you will be shocked to know that Ruby does NOTHING all day long.... Getting the dropcam really helped my worries about leaving Stella in the house unattended. (plus I can quiet her when she barks, and tell her to get off the couch from work!) I too have a cat that rules the house and is #1, so I got a dog gate to separate from the bedrooms. Stella now at 11months has free roam of the house and backyard. She never has accidents, she doesn't chew anything. Matter of fact Stella doesn't move from the moment I close the door until we get home in the evening. We do have to take her out for a good run, or Frisbee, etc. But she seems fine at home all day alone. So yes, we did crate, she loved it. She sleeps on our bed at night a majority of the time, but if she is still riled up, we put her to bed in her crate (which is now in the spare room). She is like a parakeet, as soon as we cover it she is calm and sleeps. I actually I feel bad for taking it away from her in the kitchen. ~Lori

Thank you for sharing your experience with Stella (and I still owe you a reply on FB)! I really would like to film her while I'm gone - I know I can set something up with my webcam and app on my phone. Probably it will be a snooze-fest! She often doesn't even work on her Kong.

You're on the trajectory that we were on with Silas--crated when we were both gone, then left out for a few hours at a time, then not crated at all. Silas forced my hand a little. One day I was running late from work and was out of his "crate cookies." He refused to go in for anything else, so I had no choice but to leave him out. That was the end of the crate.

I keep his crate set up. I keep a cozy bed in there. He goes in voluntarily sometimes, and sometimes I close him in with a particularly messy treat. We do send-to-crate as part of our regular training practice, and I put him in there when I need to open the front door. He almost never spends an extended period of time in there, but he still seems fine with it when I do need it. I don't think you're in any real danger of Ruby forgetting how to use the crate.

I wonder if switching back and forth between the crate and the kitchen would cause her to resent it. I would also say though that it shouldn't entirely be packed away as that may cause confusion or bad association when used later. Not leaving it out could change it from commonplace to total surprise, which may induce more anxiety toward it.

I think the above idea is the best, leave it out, maybe even in the kitchen while your gone, with the door always open and a bed inside; it could be an "option" as opposed to a "rule". I would say still use it when necessary, especially so it's not completely forgotten but not for lengthy amounts of time. I'm curious though, what other people with better knowledge of this will say. When I had my dogs, we didn't crate train them but them being huskies, getting them to even come inside was sometimes a task.

Interestingly, one of my reasons for keeping her day divided between crate and kitchen (I really need to keep the crate in the living room as the kitchen is already cramped) is to break up the day and maybe make staying in the kitchen more appealing (like, oh yay! now I'm in here!) but I see your point that her time in the kitchen might make the crate seem worse.

I did have brief period of concern when it started to get cold, because she was obviously afraid of the furnace when it kicked on and off, and it's in a closet in the kitchen. I was worried that keeping her there with the noisy beast would create a bad association, but through a little classical conditioning (furnace kicks on = hot dog time!) I was able to deal with that pretty well. She is still suspicious, but not terrified of the furnace's clickings and whirrings.

I think Ruby tells me which she prefers by where she chooses to spend her time, and I do think we will probably phase out the crate, maybe just practicing her "go to den" command once in a while.

My first dog, Shadow, used a crate. Before her, growing up our dogs never were crated and I, too, viewed a crate as doggy jail. But once I educated myself on the proper use of it - it was a wonderful tool. Shadow was pretty destructive as a puppy and it allowed me to keep my sanity and her to have a safe place to stay out of trouble while I was at work. As she got older and (slightly) less destructive, I kept the crate door always open because she sometimes enjoyed going in there on her own to rest - during her entire 13 plus years with me. I had a dog door installed though too and that was another reason I was able to cease using the crate as a place for her while I was at work. As long as she had access to the backyard, she no longer had any accidents in the house. Since she grew up with the crate from her puppy hood it became part of the furniture - she still used it often enough that I didn't want to take that "security blanket" away from her.

For my current dog Blueberry - she never showed any interest in the crate and since she was fully house trained from the minute I brought her home as well as non-destructive - it's been a non-issue. I folded up the crate and stored it away. It's pretty nice not having crates around anymore! I used to have one in the bedroom and one in the living room. Now - zero crates!

I really feel like I hit the jackpot with her. When I read her profile on the Petfinder website I thought to myself the whole time "Yeah, right...there's no way she's that great." But she is! I figure she was my reward after having a more difficult dog for 13 plus years in Shadow. :)

That is so great. I received a PetCam from Samsung that doesn't work for us (bummer) but I bet a foster family would appreciate it as something to help potential dog parent see what a dog is up to during the day.

We wanted to use it to capture our pups during the day.

Blue wasn't a fan of the kennel, but he'd go in at night. Our new dogs will be crate trained, because we think it's healthy and safe for them and less stressful for us. When they reach an age when they can be trusted, then we'll talk about allowing them the freedoms Sydney and Rodrigo have at night.

Like you, I never used crates before - my dogs we're all pretty well behaved and never saw the need. But then we adopted Jack and he was big (105lbs), rambunctious and I needed a place where I could put him so I got a time out. We had some early reactivity issues with him with strangers in the house, so we used the crate as a safe' zone. Being in a shelter for a year, he got the whole concept and soon he looked upon it as his 'home' and would go in it when really tired or when he wanted to get away. It's now part of his nightly routine and i put him to bed into his create. sometimes he stays there sometimes he comes into his bed in our bedroom, but most nights he spends at least part of the night in there. With Maggie, who was a puppy mill breeder mom, we tried a crate for the first few nights thinking she would feel safer - no way. She wanted no part of it, so we got rid of it. I think each dog is different, but I will probably always keep the crate as part of Jack's routine just in case I ever need it again.

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